Disco Elysium's Vinyl Soundtrack a Hit With Resellers

News

By RC Staff

07 February 2023

Key Points:

• Disco Elysium garnered significant praise among critics and consumers for its nontraditional approach to the RPG genre after its 2019 release

• Its distinct visuals and soundtrack were a key part of its appeal, and 2020’s “Final Cut” re-release included special versions of the soundtrack produced on vinyl.

• The standard vinyl retailed for $60, while the special edition was limited to 2000 copies, and sold for $120. Standard versions resell for around $200 and special copies have resold for $500+

Item

Music & Movies

520

Profit

This is the difference between the sale price and resell price. It does not take into account any costs associated with reselling. Things like shipping, storage fees, if applicable.

Disco Elysium 3xLP Vinyl Soundtrack (Origami Jacket)

A special “Origami” run of Disco Elysium’s soundtrack by British Sea Power, announced at the 2020 Game Awards. Limited to 2,000 units.

Crashing onto the video game scene in 2019, Disco Elysium became an outstanding indie hit in the weeks following its release. Disco Elysium proved immensely popular by mixing old-school game systems with a distinct and otherworldly setting. Both the art direction and soundtrack received considerable praise, and as such, the soundtrack would be released separately in 2020. Notably, the soundtrack would be released on vinyl, as well as on CD and through streaming services. The vinyl versions of the soundtrack have proved extremely popular, and now resell for hundreds of dollars over retail.

What is Disco Elysium, and why does the soundtrack matter?

Primarily the work of Estonian writer Robert Kurvitz, Disco Elysium is a 2019 video game developed and published by studio ZA/UM. Drawing from years of collaboration and experiences with tabletop RPGs and fiction writing, Disco Elysium’s distinct art direction separates it from its contemporaries.

Disco Elysium’s visuals heavily draw from oil paintings, while the overall setting is a disorienting mishmash of the distant future and near past, while all technically being a completely different world than our own.

As part of this emphasis on art direction, Disco Elysium’s soundtrack was similarly unique. Composed by the English band British Sea Power, the soundtrack is a perfect match for Disco Elysium’s wildly creative setting. Bounding between formless ambience and jocular, if anachronistic, blues and rock, the soundtrack has drawn considerable praise.

Much like Mick Gordon with id’s DOOM and DOOM Eternal, British Sea Power’s work on Disco Elysium has left the bounds of video game discussion and is widely appreciated for its distinct sound.

So what about the Disco Elysium Vinyl?

Following this popular and critical acclaim, Disco Elysium’s soundtrack would see an official standalone release, with the expanded Final Cut version released in 2020. The soundtrack would be released traditionally through streaming platforms and CDs, but also as a limited vinyl pressing.

The vinyl versions of the soundtrack featured a unique cover designed by Estonian artist Anton Vill. In addition to the standard vinyl record, there was also a special limited edition version of the vinyl. Standard versions sold for $60, while special ones were $120.

The Disco Elysium Vinyl limited editions

In addition to the higher price, special editions were limited to just 2,000 copies. The covers were also a unique origami-like design, and folded out to form a 3′ x 3′ work of art. Manufacturer iam8bit claimed that the design was so ambitious that it was flat out rejected by previous manufacturers, and ZA/UM struggled to find someone to take up the challenge.

It should be no surprise that when these went up for sale, they proved popular. Both the standard and special editions of the vinyl sold out quickly over the course of a day.

Since then, a few restocks have taken place at retail prices, but usually in very limited quantities. A Reddit post after the release shows users excitedly discussing just 3 copies of the standard vinyl restocking.

Why did the Disco Elysium Vinyl resell?

Because it was a rather niche item, being a vinyl release of an indie video game’s soundtrack, the Disco Elysium OST vinyl records were mostly missed by resellers. Much of the stock was bought up by consumers and fans of the game, with a relatively small fraction bought up by resellers.

For the few resellers who were in the know, they now had a huge advantage. Since the rest of the supply was owned by dedicated fans that were not interested in selling their copies, resellers were free to charge a significantly higher price to collectors that had missed out. In the weeks following the OST’s release, secondhand prices for sealed vinyl hovered at around the $150 mark or $400 for limited edition pressings.

The major reason behind this inflated resale price was Disco Elysium’s cult popularity. Unlike seasonal offerings from established studios like Ubisoft or Activision, Disco Elysium was clearly a labor of love. Developer ZA/UM was established purely to develop and publish the game, which itself was in development for around 7 years.

This dedication to the project, as well as the singular artistic vision of Kurvitz met with the creativity of British Sea Power culminated in a resoundingly special soundtrack. Both a celebration of the game and a genuinely great album, Disco Elysium’s soundtrack performed exactly as well as it was expected.

In addition to the tremendous popularity and consequent demand for the soundtrack, the vinyl versions were notably scarce. While standard versions were labeled as “open edition”, likely meaning as many records were pressed as they received orders, special editions were limited to just 2,000. With several million sales across several platforms, 2,000 copies of the soundtrack would go very, very, fast.

As we’ve said many times before, opportunities for reselling come about when scarcity meets demand. For the Disco Elysium soundtrack, this was certainly the case, which was exacerbated by this being mostly missed by resellers.

Even someone experienced with reselling vinyl likely didn’t catch this particular release. The typical formula for a popular vinyl release is usually a popular artist cashing in on the retro aesthetic of vinyl, or a classic album re-released in limited numbers. A video game soundtrack likely would have seemed improbable to resell.

By 2022, with only a handful of restocks of the standard vinyl and none of the limited edition, prices have continued to rise. Standard editions now resell for $200, and copies of the limited-edition vinyl resell for upwards of $500.

These prices are impressive, but may not even be the highest they will yet reach. While Disco Elysium as a game has finished development, the setting has not. Robert Kurvitz has since announced plans to develop both a sequel as well as a tabletop version of the game.

In addition, a television adaptation of the game is in the works. For an indie video game, this a remarkable step up, and signals plans for further development of the Disco Elysium setting. While these vinyl records are valuable now, who knows how much farther they have to go.

Have you tried your hand at reselling vinyl? You might be surprised by what some people are willing to pay over retail for. From vinyl to vacuums, to measuring cups and McDonald’s, there’s a whole world of reselling out there. For more items that other resellers are missing, check out our other articles.